Of Boredom, Final Grades, and Experiences

I'm just going to ignore the fact that I've not posted for over a month, okay?  Thank you.


  At the end of February, I began taking the final class in the Signature Leadership Courses by Dr. Jeff Myers.  This was an eleven week class, set to finish on May 10th.  I was not going to be able to start classes at Thomas Edison until June...so I was excited for that three week break!  Well...long story short, for multiple reasons, I wanted to finish a week early.  However I ended up finishing almost two weeks early.  I was pumped that I would get over a month break!!  That quickly ended -- I believe it lasted only through the night.  I found that I didn't have much to do.  Sure, I could clean, watch movies, or read...but for some reason, that sounded a lot more fun before I was on break.  Typical.

  I kept myself busy by trying to sell books, enrolling in Thomas Edison (yes, that did indeed take a full day), and minimal cleaning.

  Finally, I could start preparing for LIVE's Mother's Day Brunch, which was happening Saturday, May 10th.  See, if I start planning too early, I'll get it all done, and then have nothing to do in the final days' leading up to it.  So I have to wait to plan for bigger events.  Anyway, I started meeting with a few of the planning committees comprised of my older girls.  I made way too many trips to Target...especially for someone who lives twenty minutes away from the nearest one.  I planned for the planning meeting which was happening two days prior to the Brunch.  I stayed up late prepping final touches for the gift that the girls were making for their moms.  I cleaned (sorta).  I painted my nails (which I never do).  We packed three laundry baskets full of food, decorations, and other supplies.  And I stayed up late Friday night relaxing watching TV (that's how I de-stress).

Shopping with the Decoration Committee!

  Even though I felt a little overwhelmed, and a tad-bit nervous for this Mother's Day Brunch, the event went spectacularly!  I can't even begin to describe how well it went and how fun it was!  I was thrilled to find out the moms enjoyed themselves, also!  My girls put a lot of work into helping me plan this event, I'm so proud of them!  They worked hard on decorations, writing a skit, writing their testimonies, singing, and making food.  I wish I could share more pictures, but for the sake of my girls' protection, I won't be able to.  But here are a couple photos to give you a small glimpse of the fun we had!

This young lady, who I have the amazing privilege of mentoring, shared her testimony in front of the moms.  Two other girls did as well - they all did a beautiful job!

  Other things that have been keeping me busy....

Mother's Day, 2014

My friend Ashley had surgery so I've spent a couple days hanging out with her as well as some others from our small group.

 On May 9th, I was given a ticket to Leadercast -- a world-wide, day-long simulcast featuring speakers including Laura Bush, Andy Stanley, Randall Wallace, Malcolm Gladwell, and more.  This was such an incredible opportunity for me, especially arriving on the heel of finishing my leadership class with Dr. Myers!  I learned so much, and would love to go again next year!  If you ever have the opportunity to go, GO! 

  A few great movies have come out recently, and my mom has taken my sister and I to them.  I love that our movie theater has $5 Tuesdays. :)

Watching Disney movies with my sister.  Boy do these bring back memories!

Yesterday, I made red velvet cake pops. (this is as great of a picture as I got)

Reading...

okay, so I've read one book on that list so far.  BUT, I still have 16 days of my break left!  Need to fill it with something besides my Nancy Drew games! :D

  Oh and that course I mentioned at the beginning?

Yep, I passed with 99%!  And...I am now a Senior in college!  Wow.  Finally!  :)  I begin my year at Thomas Edison in June and have ten classes to take with them.  By this time next year, I will be finishing up my very last college course EVER!!!

 There ya go, an update on my exciting life. ;)  And for those of you wondering...no, I do not have any more trips planned.  I wish I did, but I think traveling will have to wait until after I graduate (remember, just one more year!).  Besides, I have a four-month long backpacking trip through Europe to save for!! ;)

Sierra

From a Homeschool Graduate

  I recently had the privilege of sharing a bit about my homeschool journey with our local group of homeschool moms.  I thought I'd share on here, too, for any other homeschool moms who are interested in knowing what my mom did right and what we could have done differently on my homeschool journey.  Also, if you're not a homeschool mom or a homeschooler at all, maybe this will put some of your questions at ease. :)

  First of all, I am SO glad that I was homeschooled.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.  I remember in maybe 5th or 6th grade, I was behind in some of my school work.  It was around Thanksgiving, and my parents told me that if I didn't catch up by Christmas, they were putting me in school in January.  That was possibly the worst punishment, in my opinion, and I got down to work and caught up on that school! :)  I realize that homeschooling isn't for everyone, but for me, it was the right thing.

  My dad is actually the one who wanted us kids to be homeschooled.  My mom was a public school teacher for 12 years until my sister was born (I was 4).  I went to public school for kindergarten, but after that, my mom pulled me out and we started homeschooling.

  One thing I have to put to rest is that YES, homeschoolers have friends!  This is a common misconception - one that actually prevents other kids from befriending you.  The majority of my friends were also homeschooled.  I can only name two other people who were friends with me in spite of being homeschooled.  But, right after starting to be homeschooled, we started attending a local homeschool co-op where, twice a month around 30-40 families got together for three hours and the parents taught/supervised and students went to three different classes.  The classes changed throughout the years, but they included a geography class when I was younger, a logic class (my personal all-time favorite), science, creative writing, gym, art, and as high schoolers, we got a game hour to just have fun with each other.  It was a great place to meet new friends and build that initial foundation of friendship.

  I also attended a discipleship group for girls with several friends, before I started my own when I was 14.  Going to this group was a highlight, twice a month, where I learned more about living a life for Christ and also got to spend more time with friends.  But besides, those structured times, my mom was really good and purposeful about getting together with friends for my siblings and I.  We had friends over all the time, whether those friends lived in our neighborhood or 30 minutes away.  My mom recognized how important socializing was and made every effort to help us develop friendships.  I remember one year, my mom did a creative writing "class" just at our house with 4 or 5 of my friends and we got together for maybe four sessions and at the end had a mother's day...day where we presented our moms with an acrostic word project we'd made.  Every Christmas for a few years, my mom would organize a mother-daughter Christmas Tea with several other mothers and daughters we knew. We'd have a couple games, a devotional, singing, and had amazing food!  Because we didn't celebrate Halloween, we would invite about seven other families who also didn't celebrate it and just have a "harvest party".  This event often included a potluck, a campfire, and night games.

  My mom was also big on birthday parties, which she often allowed me to help plan!  I remember having a water-park birthday, a Hello Kitty party at a playground, a scrapbooking party/sleepover, a Nancy Drew computer game race birthday, a mystery dinner party, a soccer-themed party, and then my extremely memorable 16th birthday (which was a surprise).  She even let me and one of my best friends plan that soccer-themed party all on our own!  By helping plan those parties, I learned what all went into party-planning: invitations, RSVPs, decorations, games, food, cleaning, etc.  And now that I plan about a half-dozen parties for LIVE every year, I realize how important that experience was for me!  And as you can see, I never lacked time with friends.

  When I was in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, I went to band at the public school, where I played flute.  I had a good friend who had started full-time public school the same year I started band, and although she was a year older, it was fun to be able to see her after school.  However, after 7th grade, I quit and just took private lessons.  People create stereotypes and oftentimes, all it takes is one person.  Just as it might take one homeschooler for every public schooler to be against them, it can take one public schooler for every homeschooler to not be so positive about them.  In 7th grade, we were supposed to play seven songs at the Spring concert.  By the time the concert came around we could play three or four.  That year was the worst!  My band director walked out crying twice because the kids were so disrespectful, I hardly learned anything that year, because the majority of the kids were disrespectful, and not enough students practiced at home nor paid attention in class to learn the assigned songs.  It was very frustrating to me, and I know that not every class is like that, but I was very glad that year that my parents homeschooled me, because of that experience I had.

  There are many things that, had I gone to public school, I would not have been able to do.  One of the biggest things is leading my discipleship group.  I started when I was 14 with girls in my neighborhood and it was then that I started writing curriculum, too.  I loved leading the group and those girls were so special to me!  My family moved in 2011 and that's when I started LIVE, with girls from our local homeschool group.  I cannot imagine what it would be like not having these girls in my life!  College has crossed my mind a few times, but the primary reason I won't go is because I would no longer be able to lead LIVE.

  Another thing is traveling.  My family has always taken vacations at least once a year with several camping trips crammed in, especially when I was younger.  Lots of families take vacations, I know.  But we would be able to start school a few weeks early and then, once school had started for everyone else, we would pack up and get out of waiting in lines and having those crowds!  One fall, my parents made the very hasty decisions to purchase a vehicle online...in North Carolina (and the funny thing is, that wasn't the only time, either!).  After they won the eBay bid, it went back and forth about who was going to go pick it up.  First, it was just my dad.  Then, I was going to go with him (I was 10 at the time).  In the end, two weeks later, all five of us were on a plane to NC.  But it wasn't just to NC that we went...we ended up driving to Williamsburg, VA!  That was one of the best vacations, ever!  In fact, we even decided to stay longer than originally planned because we could!
  One year, in 8th or 9th grade, I did a research paper on the Amish.  And that same year, my brother did a project on Gettysburg.  So on our vacation to Washington D.C. (which, by the way was SO much fun and SO much learning! :D), we stopped in Gettysburg so Aidan could see his project practically come to life.  And on the way home, we stopped in Ohio and stayed with an older Amish couple for a couple days and I learned so much after I'd done my paper!  That same trip, we also went to Assateague Island and Maryland City.
  Another year, it was a week and a half before Christmas and we got a call from my dad's uncle, who we didn't really know that well.  He told us they had some vacation points that needed to be used within two weeks and they wouldn't be able to.  He said he had two suites and asked if we knew any other homeschooling families who would be able to with us.  Of course, we said yes and invited three other homeschool families and four days later, we were on our way!  Oh, the joys of being able to drop it all and leave! :)
  We've also gone to Colorado, California, Wisconsin Dells (on other occasions), Mexico, and South Dakota.
  Last year was the first year that my parents allowed me to travel alone.  I was able to put school (both high school and college, thanks to CollegePlus) on hold and go to Virginia for a week.  I was able to take a mission trip to Haiti, go to Texas, leave on four days' notice to Florida with my dad, and in January/February of this year, I went to Colorado with three weeks' notice.  Traveling is something I love to do and it looks like I'll be able to more of it this year!

  Having a close relationship with my mom is something else that I don't think would have been possible had I gone to school.  I began growing closer to her in high school, which if I were in school, I probably would have been gone 9-10 hours a day, if not more.

  Also, being homeschooled provided me with opportunities for some jobs!  One year, a neighbor came over to our house to ask if I would be able to get her autistic son on and off the bus when she worked.  He rode a different bus than his siblings, so it actually came later in the morning.  If I had been at school, I wouldn't have had that experience.

  One more big thing is doing CollegePlus.  I did their CollegePrep program when I was 14 and by the time I was 15, a Sophomore in high school, I had 12 college credits.  By the time I graduated high school in 2013, I had 58 credits and was a Sophomore in college, and I currently am a Junior with 81.  I will be (Lord-willing) graduating in June of 2015 with my BS in Organizational Leadership through Thomas Edison State College.


  There are some things that my mom and I wish we had done differently in my "high school career". I hope maybe it will be helpful to you homeschool moms. :)

  Science.  I am not a science person at all.  My mom found a science curriculum one year and I...strongly disliked it. :)  I'm not sure what it was called, but it was boring and I didn't learn all that much.  And, when the time came for me to take the science CLEP test to earn college credit, I did not have a very strong foundation in science.  Yes, I did study (for four months, in fact) other resources for the CLEP, but honestly, I felt like I was starting completely from scratch.  I ended up failing the Natural Sciences CLEP...twice.  I realize that it's not all the curriculum's fault, but I do believe it played a role in it.  I think had we done Apologia, it would have been fine.

  Math.  So I'm not really a math person either.  Let me rephrase that...I love math when I understand it.  If it's easy for me...it's all good.  So I loved math up until 10th grade.  In 10th grade, we started Algebra II and I didn't understand it.  So, we switched to Geometry.  However, not only did we switch to Geometry, but we switched curriculum, too.  And I didn't not like this curriculum.  I think it's important that you have a curriculum that your student can understand and enjoys.  Otherwise, we're not going to get as much out of it as we should.  And the beauty of homeschooling is that you have dozens of curriculum options for each student!

  Foreign Language.  My mom and I would suggest you allow your student choose their own foreign language.  You can approve, sure, but let them choose.  My mom chose for me...Latin.  She thought that learning Latin would make learning any other language easier.  I did not want to learn Latin the first place, which made those three years kind of miserable.  I would have much rather learned French.  Yes, Latin may have been useful had I been a science major, but as we discovered with the failing of two Natural Science tests, that was NOT going to be the case. :)  Most people I know who have been out of high school for a couple years do not remember the foreign language they learned.  So by the time I ever get around to learning French, if ever, that Latin wouldn't be any use to me anyways.  Just something to keep in mind. :)

  Deadlines.  One thing, I wish my parents had been more strict on is deadlines.  It wasn't that my mom didn't set them, I just usually got out of them if I wasn't finished with m paper by then.  And when I started taking CLEP tests for college, there was no structure there, either.  For those tests, I was in complete control.  I ordered the books I thought I needed, I made my own study schedule, and set my own goals.  Because CollegePlus is flexible (which is awesome), my college degree could take me six months or six years...it didn't matter.  Now, I'm not hitting the six year mark, but I certainly didn't get it done by high school which was the original goal.  Because I was in complete control, I could push my goals further and further back over and over again.  And by the time I had to take my first online course, I was like, "Wait, what?  I have to get ALL this done by midnight on Saturday?!"  It was very stressful for me.


  I hope you found this post insightful into a homeschooler's life and somewhat helpful. :)  I am so glad that I had my parents as my teachers for my whole academic life, and that I get to have the SAME teachers for the rest of my life in all other areas. :)

In Christ,
    Sierra

The Best Year of My Life...So Far

   2013 has been an amazing year!  I look back at this year and can smile and praise God for all He's done.  There have been some difficult things such as losing my grandpa to cancer at the beginning of this year, and some friendships have not lasted, but God is good and has provided exponentially more things to thank Him for!

  At the beginning of this year, I made a cute little jar to fill throughout the year.  On little slips of paper, I wrote down special times which stood out to me; days I learned a lot, or just had a great time.  It was a super fun thing to do, and looking into the jar now, makes me realize just what an awesome year I had!

  I wanted to type them all out here now.  I have to admit, the main reasons are 1) because I love reading them, and 2) I have a weird need to make lists.  They make me happy. :)  But I also thought maybe some of you would enjoy seeing what happened throughout 2013 in my life.  I'm a pretty sentimental person, so these will be going into an envelope to be kept and I will continue doing this for as long as I can. :)
  So...here goes!

• picking Erica & Gilmar up front he airport (and the car-ride with Terri & Sandi!)
• going through pictures with my dad
• tubing at Wild Mountain with my family, Erica, Gilmar, and the Slacks
• passing Principles of Marketing CLEP
• getting pink roses on my 18th birthday

• the entire day of my 18th birthday :) (and the fact I turned 18)
• started going to Westwood -- I couldn't be more grateful for the people who are there.
• CollegePlus gathering in Virginia

• Bible study on Ephesians (one specific evening was really good)
• Friday night hangout -- Scavenger hunt!
• passed the Biology CLEP (finally!)
• spent the day with Megan & baby Piper

• LIVE's Minute to Win It party
• graduated high school (!)
• passed ALEKS Statistics in 2 weeks -- brought my credit count up to 51
• sleepover with Brooke, Ashley, & Jess
• my high school graduation party

• Christine invited me on the August mission trip to Haiti
• laser tag with my family, Lynda, Daniel, Marcos, and Gislaine
• paintball games with my family, Gislaine, Marcos, Daniel, Blake, and Jenna
• helping Gislaine and Marcos with their English homework
• game night playing Ticket to Ride with my dad, Frankie, Aidan, Blake and Jenna
• Trollhaugen adventure park with my family, Marcos, Daniel, and Gislaine
• River walk in Haiti

• New Jerusalem and climbing mountain in Haiti and going to Power Girls there
• swimming in the Caribbean Sea in Haiti
• alright...the entire trip to Haiti :)
• laser tag and whirly ball with my family, Marcos, Gislaine, and Jônatus
• Valley Fair with Aidan and Jônatus
• became a college Junior!!
• trip to Florida (and Disney World!) with my dad

• Bible study on Mark 8 at community group (Westwood)
• evening with Lindsey: Noodles & Co., Grace Unplugged, and Cold Stone
• LIVE meeting on modesty
• girls' night with Ashley and Jess and helping Jess move

• a late dinner at Applebee's with Lindsey
• CollegePlus Texas gathering (dancing, card games, meeting friends, etc.)
• phone call with Lindsey and making lists :)
• swimming with the manatees in Mexico

• snorkeling in the reef at X-Caret (Sea Turtles!)
• Trainer for a Day at Xel-Ha
• day at Xplor - zip lining, ATVing, and paddling through stalactite caves
• the entire trip to Mexico
• getting 75 credits before Christmas!
• our first Christmas as just our family
• LIVE's Christmas party

 I know, that was a lot. :P  I'm looking forward to 2014 as I will get to travel a bit more this year, continue in school, continue to develop LIVE, as well as develop new friendships.

 God bless you in 2014,

    Sierra

Vacation 2013: Mexico

  From December 12th to December 20th, my family took a vacation to Mexico.  We haven't been on a family vacation in a few years and we've never gone anywhere like Mexico.  So...we all packed our bags and headed down to the wonderfully sunny, warm, and sandy Play del Carmen.  It was a wonderful escape from our cold, snowy, negative temperature Minnesota. :)

  Many of the days were spent by water and since my camera is bigger, I left it at the hut and just took my phone.  So once again, my cell phone photos will have to do most of the time.  Also, not all pictures are mine -- some are my sister, Frankie's.

  Chichen Itza was our first stop on Friday.  It was beautiful there, but my favorite was Ek Balam (below).

Ek Balam is the oldest discovered Mayan civilization.  Ironically, it was the only one of the two (Chichen Itza and Ek Balam) where you could actually climb the buildings.  The bottom photo is the view from the top of the "pyramid" (left-side photo) -- they still haven't finished digging it.  The steps are super narrow and at one point, at the top, my legs literally would not move, but I eventually made it down.  The top photo has been reconstructed.

We also got to spend a little time (only 15 minutes) in a cenote!  It was beautiful...and cold. :)  We only jumped off the "cliff" (~20 feet) twice because it took us so long to get up the nerve since it was so cold.  It was a blast, though!

  On Saturday, Aidan, Frankie, my Mom, and I went to Dolphin Discovery where we spent time with dolphins and manatees (my personal favorite).  It was so much fun!  We were dragged by the dolphins' dorsal fins and also got the foot push.  With the manatees, we got to feed them and when they want food really badly, they'd wrap their fins around your legs and hold on for dear life.  It was awesome!

  After we met up with my dad again, we all headed for a walk on the beach.  It was gorgeous!

can you tell i've found picmonkey.com?  awesome!!

  Sunday was spent at X-Caret.  It was a beautiful day and we got to go snorkeling in a cave and then we took a snorkeling tour in a reef.  That was the highlight of the day -- maybe even the trip.  We all loved seeing life under water...but my personal favorite was the sea turtles.  I saw three and they were so close we got to hold them between our hands!!

 Now, Monday was an interesting day.  It was not my favorite, but I found it very fun and adventurous!  My mom, Frankie, and I were supposed to go spend the day with more dolphins and my dad and Aidan were to go ATVing.  However, there was a mixup of pickup locations for us girls and we didn't end up going.  And the boys' activity was rescheduled for later in the day at the last minute, so we decided to just spend the day as a family instead.  We ended up taking a ferry to Cozumel.  Before we boarded, we were told that we would be able to help release baby sea turtles into the ocean and snorkel since it would be nice on the other side of the island.  So when we got to Cozumel, we rented a car...

...a 35-year-old, falling apart Volkswagen Beetle.  All five of us piled (literally) in and we just couldn't help but laugh.  When we got to the other side of the island, we discovered that we had been taken for a ride as there were no baby sea turtles to release and, by george, it was just as windy as the other side of the island!  We stopped at a beach-side restaurant and then Aidan and I did some body surfing -- at least the waves were still enjoyable for something!

  Tuesday dawned nice and sunny.  We spent the day at Xel-Ha and spent over three hours snorkeling that day.  And although the day started out sunny, it down poured three different times while we snorkeled.  At Xel-Ha they have a large lagoon for snorkeling, a small rope course that Aidan loved, a few small zip lines, and cliff jumping.  Aidan and I decided to try cliff jumping and took a few plunges from 40+ feet -- that was FUN!!!  Although the second time, I lost a strap to my flipper and therefore had to go without flippers for the next hour and a half.  Swimming with no flippers in a windy rainstorm is not easy.  At one point, I was kicking with all my strength and was seriously staring at the same seashell at the bottom for about 20 seconds.

  Wednesday ended up working out for us girls to spend the day with dolphins at the program, 'Trainer for a Day'.  We spent over three hours in the water with them and also got to see a couple trainers training their dolphins.  In the water, we got foot-pushed more, got dorsal-dragged more, participated in training them (I made a dolphin jump! my highlight), and got to snorkel among them.  It was a day well-spent...we all had a blast!

 Our last day of activity was spent at Xplor.  This was definitely a tiring day but it was SO.MUCH.FUN!  We went on over two miles of zip lines, over six miles on ATVs through caves and water, and went paddling through a stalactite cave.  All three activities showed gorgeous proof of God's beautiful creation!  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of this; it was such an active day that we didn't really have time nor the ability to take pictures.

  Friday morning was beautiful and us girls went out to the beach to take a few last photos before we headed to the airport.

  We all had such a good time, but we were definitely tired!  We all agreed that we should have taken one more day to just sit on the beach.
 
  And now that we're home...there's so much to do!  Christmas is only a few days away...I have a ton of school to do, I have so many opportunities for this coming year my head could explode, and I have a lot of things for LIVE to plan and look forward to.  I'm so excited for 2014...but more on that later. :)

  Sierra

Happy Thanksgiving

  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Every year I think about what God's blessed me with the past year and this year my list keeps going!  I feel so blessed by all that God has done in my life in 2013.  Below is a list of just a few of many things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for....
:: the precious time spent with my grandpa before he passed away in January
:: my dear, sweet LIVE girls - I've so enjoyed seeing them grow up
:: all the opportunities I've had this year to travel
:: I'm especially grateful for the opportunity I had to travel to Haiti.
:: my family and all the support and encouragement they've shown me
:: the great Bible study/community group I've become a part of and all the friends, role models, and spiritual growth I've gained from it!
:: the opportunity to do college at home so I can participate in many of the things listed above :)
:: the way the Lord has revealed Himself to me this past year

  May you have a blessed day with your family as you recognize all that the Lord has blessed you with over the past year.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Sierra

Disney World

  I'm looking back, and the past 7+ blog posts have been about my trip to Haiti.  And I now, as of last week, have a new trip to add!  Last week, from Tuesday to Sunday, my dad and I went to Florida.  My dad co-owns an elevator company - they specialize in custom elevator cabs.  There was a convention in Tampa and I went along with him.  We only went one day of the two day event, which gave us an extra day at...Disney World!!  I'd never been even outside a Florida airport before, so I was very excited to experience Disney World.  I'll share some photos with you, but please excuse the fact that they are from my phone camera. :P

  Our first day was spent at Disney Hollywood Studios.

 I am an autumn girl.  I love fall.  I love the cool, crisp weather that requires sweatshirts and sweatpants.  I love the colorful trees which are beautiful.  I love pumpkin bars, corn-mazes, night-games, apple cider, and more.  And finally we were getting that weather here in Minnesota.  Until...I stepped out of the airport in Tampa.  Hot, humid, and raining.  However, with the chance of thunderstorms in forecast for the whole weekend, it definitely cut lines down!  There were only a couple rides in the whole weekend where we had to stand in line for a long time.

  One of our favorite things from the whole weekend was the Great Movie Ride.  The building where you wait in line is modeled after Grauman's Theater in Hollywood.  You are taken on a track through several scenes filled with animatronics.  These animatronics are amazing!  It was incredible to see each detail put into the sets and the people.  The rooms were very dark, so that's why the poor quality photo. Below is Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain.

  Our second day, we spent at the Magic Kingdom!  We were in the first hundred people in the park!  Whoo-hoo! :P

  My favorite thing was probably the Small World ride.  Sounds cheesy, I know, and I thought it would be.  Not at all!  Everything at Disney World is so elaborate!  In every nook and cranny, even those where you wouldn't notice if they were bare, were elaborate and extravagant decorations!  That was a very fun aspect to see.

  I apologize for the blurry photo.  This was just one small part of the Small World ride. 

I am counting on the fact that I'm not the only 18 year
old who got excited when I saw Cinderella's castle. :P

  I love Tangled.  Little Mermaid is first, but Tangled is definitely a close second. :)  We were just walking along and I noticed the tower.  That was pretty fun! 

  When we rounded the corner, I saw Rapunzel's village!  Well, at least, a small part of it.  If we want to get specific, they made her "village" the restroom stop, but nevertheless, it was pretty awesome.

  I saw a couple other "castles", too, that I had to take a picture of!

The Beast's castle (Beauty & the Beast)

Prince Eric's castle (The Little Mermaid)

    Our last day was spent at Epcot.

  Our favorite ride at Epcot was Fast Track.  The only ride we went on twice.  You go in a room and create your own car.  You pick the wheels, the shape...everything.  Then you scan your design to a card and when you get on the ride, the computer scans the design into the car you're riding in.  The ride then takes you through "storms" and tests the responsiveness, capability, efficiency, and finally, speed of the car.  You end up going around a rounded building over 100 miles an hour before the ride was over.  Below was the first car we made.

  Hidden Mickeys.  Can you see it?

  There was a building which had soda that you could taste (for free!) from around the world!  I tasted all of the except the Mexico one because of all the kiosks, it was gone.  As I was getting the Italy one, someone looked at me and said, "It's gross."  After I tasted it, like seven other people agreed including myself.  :P  China's was a watermelon flavor which was really good.  

  You may think me ridiculous, but I got a picture with Mary Poppins!  So...I was happy. :)  She's the only character I stood in line for, but I also saw Merida, Alice, Peter Pan, Wendy, Buzz Lightyear, Mike & Sully, Jasmine & Aladdin, and Snow White.  It's kind of fun seeing them all dressed up.

  So that was our trip in a nutshell.  We wanted to take the Keys of the Kingdom tour, but trying to get tickets the day before does not work.  So...if you're going to Disney World, my tip would be to plan.  Know that you're going at least a week before. :P  We had a good time, though.

  Sierra